2024-11-21T12:19:01-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150303561/influential-urban-theorist-christopher-alexander-has-passed-away-at-85 Josh Niland 2022-03-21T17:46:00-04:00 >2022-03-31T21:12:25-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a1/a1fe29bfc494d6369347eeb8a9f33ec0.jpeg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>The world of architectural theory is in mourning after news that architect, urbanist, AIA Gold Medalist, and former <a href="https://archinect.com/UCBerkeley" target="_blank">UC Berkeley</a> professor Christopher Alexander passed away peacefully in his home in the south of England Thursday following a long illness.</p> <p>Alexander was a pioneering theorist and early proponent of the <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/3481/new-urbanism" target="_blank">New Urbanism</a> movement who authored several crucial texts including <em>The Timeless Way of Building</em> and 1973&rsquo;s seminal<em> A Pattern Language</em>.</p> <p>Born in Austria in 1936, Alexander read mathematics at <a href="https://archinect.com/cambridge" target="_blank">Trinity College, Cambridge</a> before immigrating to the United States to attend both <a href="https://archinect.com/mitarchitecture" target="_blank">MIT</a> and <a href="https://archinect.com/harvard" target="_blank">Harvard</a> in 1958. Alexander joined the faculty as Professor of Architecture at Berkeley&rsquo;s College of Environmental Design in 1963.&nbsp;</p> <p>As a theorist, he was <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-01-29-tm-25890-story.html" target="_blank">instrumental</a> in developing still-used planning methods first published in <em>The Oregon Experiment</em> in 1975 and known for influencing the development of a software engineering concept that eventually led to Wikipedia. As an architect, he demonstrated ...</p>